NAB Loses Customer Trust

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How the NAB mislead me to believe they are a reputable Bank and caused my family significant financial loss and stress.

National Bank of Australia proves to be a bitter "lemon"... wriggle out of compensation even though FOS clearly defines case to be legit.

Story Details

Story Of:

Rosanna Kennedy

Bank Involved:

NAB

Bank Malpractice Type:

Incompetent Business Practices

Powermongering & Greed

Unconscionable Conduct

Year Trouble Began:

2016

Government Involvement:

ASIC (Australian Securities & Investments Commission)

FOS (Financial Ombudsman Service)

Did You Receive Effective Help?:

No

Bad Banking Experience - Full Story:

I was a loyal customer of NAB for 12 years. My property portfolio held a mix of residential properties and investment properties in Western Sydney. I had substantial funds and the rental income from our properties was stable. I had never missed a single payment with the Nab for the past 12 years.

My Loan facilities were due for renewal and competitive rates were being offered in the market. I approached the NAB however they didn’t offer me anything close to the rates other banks were offering and hence I commenced the process to transfer my mortgage to another lender.

A day prior to the release of my Mortgages with the NAB, I received a phone call from a member of the NAB Retention team, who asked me “what it would it take to stay with them”, obviously my first reaction was shock as I have approached the NAB in the first instance!. She proceeded to promised better rates, an ‘express service’ and all the bells and whistles, so I gave the NAB the benefit of the doubt. She also promised the process would only take 3 - 5 day with very little or no paperwork as I banked with the NAB.

During this 3 - 5 days a number of errors were made by NAB including misleading information regarding to time frames, ordering incorrect valuations to the wrong address, incorrect interest rates applied, getting our names wrong on the applications, forgetting to add an applicant to the application, applying mortgage insurance charges that didn’t need to be applied, and requesting the same information on a number of occasions, and that’s just the beginning – it gets worse.

As we had already received conditional approval from ME Bank, we had proceeded with the purchase of a new family vehicle. As the NAB misled us to believe they could complete the refinance within 3 - 5 days, our liability to purchase the car came due without the funds being provided by the NAB. We lost our deposit of $5,000 and subsequently lost a great offer on a great family vehicle. If that wasn’t bad enough, and after all these errors, we were advised at the last minute that in order to apply a lower rate to our investment loan, we were required to pay a break fee of $15K? Apparently NAB, forgot to mention this!

If that wasn’t enough, we had internal building works booked for our family home. All was placed on hold while we awaiting a conditional approval. Our bathrooms were pulled apart and uncomfortable living standards started to take its toll on our family. What was supposed to be 3 - 5 days turned into 4 months.

Finally in November, the funds were released but the cost of staying with the NAB became visible with the vehicle now $44,000 more on-top of the difference in the interest rates being paid, loss in trade vehicle for our current vehicle, additional car expenses i.e rego, tyres, ect, tradesmen getting very angry with delays in getting paid, changing time frames and the constant rescheduling frustrating them more and more. These 4 months of dealing with the NAB were the worst 4 months of our lives.

I took my grievances up with the NAB as they have a ‘Code of Banking Practice’ to adhere to and wasn’t that a waste of time….. I was first instructed that they didn’t have a manager who was available to take my calls. After I stubbornly refused to end communication with the NAB I finally was put in the hands of a Mortgage Retention Officer who promised me the world. True to his word, he pushed the process and completed the refinance however the interest rates were incorrect applied for the third time. He also advised us about an offer the bank was providing and advised that we would received 250,000 frequent velocity points for each loan taken out. This meant we were now applicable for 3 x 250,000 points as long as we had a NAB velocity card. I requested the application for the NAB velocity Card to be sent to me and no surprise…... I am still waiting for application forms…! MORE LIES

I decided to Google the executive team for the NAB and found details for the Chief Customer Officer. I checked him out on Facebook and reached out to him.

This was his response;

“Dear Rosanna

I'm so sorry to hear of your experience. Particularly given that as a senior manager in a big business you know we can do better - and we should!

Can you please send me some details (your email, phone number, and maybe suburb too) and I will have the right NAB person call you tomorrow so we can get things right with you. I would much rather you remain with NAB!

Feel free to contact me any time through the process, as I'll track this through, though the most reliable way is by email. I'm more tardy on my personal messenger account as you would imagine, Thanks for giving us the opportunity to keep your business.”

Best regards

A Consultant, Office of the CEO & Executive Leadership Team was the person he put in charge of the matter. She also decided to apply the incorrect rate to my mortgage for the fourth time. Luckily at this point I had everything in writing and all phone calls were recorded, therefore nobody could misinterpret what was said. Again I wasn’t getting anywhere fast...If this was the service I was receiving from the Chief Customer Officer’s Assistant, then what hope was there?

I was at my wits end and took my complaint to FOS. Thankfully NAB were requested to provide FOS with all phone recordings and because FOS provided me with an opportunity to respond, I was now in possession of these recording. After another long six months FOS finally supplied a determination that was favourable to us.

FOS found the evidence showed the NAB's conduct was misleading because:

conditionally approving the New Loan within three to five days was unrealistic

the NAB could not rely on ME Bank’s property valuation and had to conduct a new valuation

it took the NAB more than a month to complete a new valuation, and

it took the NAB more than two months to conditionally approve the New Loan.

This was far longer than the ‘express service’ offered to me

and further evidence showed the NAB was responsible for the delay because:

the NAB had internal system delays which it acknowledges,

the NAB delayed arranging a full valuation for the residence until late August 2016, and

the NAB requested the same supporting documents from the Applicants on more than one occasion.

Even after all this evidence, the losses could not be awarded as they were outside their jurisdiction and FOS “could not compel NAB to provide what they advertise in the media.”

Today I am $71,699.42 worse off after taking that call from NAB . On-top of these costs, the NAB refuse to credit 3 x 250,000 velocity points to our existing account.

It became quite apparent that the NAB thought I was going to accept the determination and they would be rid of me….Weren’t they wrong…..Now I am in a stronger position when I take the matter in front of a judge. No judge rules against themselves….,

I have received a number of different forms of communication from different members of the NAB claiming to want to resolve the matter however as per usual, it’s all on their terms. Starting with Office of the CEO & Executive Leadership Team then moving to Head of Customer Resolutions.

They most recently sent me Settlement Agreement which stipulated the following;

1) I hereby release and discharge NAB from any and all causes of action, claims and demands or losses of any nature and rights whatsoever which you may have against NAB or any servant, agent, officer or assignee of NAB, arising out of or in connection with the Complaint.

2) Non-disparagement Agreement. Each party promises not to disparage any other party in respect of the Complaint or this Agreement.

For this, they would give me $10,500…Funny thing is….I don’t remember sending them any settlement Agreement when it came to me having to pay the Break fees for one of my loans??? In fact, I think the paper trail shows that I paid it immediately and without any reservations. So one would ask, Why is it ok for the customer to have to pay costs to the bank, however the NAB don’t feel they have to pay the costs they have imposed on its customers? Double standards if you ask me…!.

The CEO still hasn’t corresponded with me even though I email him on a regular basis, which says a lot for his comments made most recently in the media;

NAB chief executive Andrew Thorburn “wants me to help him, and the rest of the executive legal team, change the culture at NAB and respond to the public criticisms of the banking industry in a more overt way”.

“Andrew’s vision is for NAB to be the most respected bank in Australia and New Zealand; we want to be doing the right thing by our customers and he wants me to come and help him do that,”

Those words spoken by Sharon Cook, who currently holds the position as a Member of the Executive Leadership Team, Chief Legal & Commercial Counsel - ‎National Australia Bank

The complete lack of acknowledgement and responsibility from the NAB is just unfathomable and when you start investigating how many customer are truly unhappy with the NAB it is undeniable. NAB Facebook page is riddled with unhappy customers and people all going through the same experiences I have.

How this bank can simply ask its customers to respect them when they have total disregards and respect for its customers is diabolical.

Andrew Hagger stated in an article;

“ I believe there are three things we need to do to fulfil our role as a bank and be ‘More than Money’. First, we need to build trust and confidence in the community. Second, we need to make it as easy as possible for our customers to understand their finances and interact with their money. And third, we must be personal and supporting for our customers. Money enables an outcome in the lives of our customers; it is not the outcome itself. So our role is to support that enabling process and make it as personal as possible. We have been managing money for more than 150 years. But, we want to be as good with people as we are with money.”

Clearly his statements are just words with no meaning behind them that help him to look at himself in the mirror each morning.

I am a customer and I certainly don’t feel like I can trust the NAB. I certainly don’t have confidence in the NAB. It wasn’t an easy process to interact with the NAB who certainly were not supportive. The outcome for my family and I is bitter disappointment in the way NAB has treated us. This company is directly responsible for over $72,000 of damage to us.

In life, many people come and go. We meet different people through business ventures, real estate deals or simply the general hustle and bustle of everyday life. During this whole ordeal I have come across a few senior NAB employees that work within this corrupt organisation. I obviously reached out to them for support and resolution however they were given strict instructions to not communicate with me as it would be in their best interest. How sad, A little person like me has so much power to make these NAB employees frightened for their jobs….Or is it that the NAB have something to hide? You decide….. It screams volumes to me!

With a very supportive legal team behind me, I send a letter to Andrew Thorburn CEO of NAB. I sent him this letter on 9th September and requested a response be provided by 14th September. Up until today, he has not provided a response to my letter.

How My Life Has Been Affected:

We are financial $72,000 worse off after the damages the NAB have caused to my family and I.

After this experience I truely have no trust in the NAB or its Executive leadership team.

How the Senior Executive Board sleeps comfortably at night, just astounds me. After receiving 1,000's of messages and responses from unhappy customers on Facebook and this forum its quite clear that this bank is not a bank for the people.

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